Connect with us

Ireland

Popular story behind unusual row of houses in Belfast is a ‘myth’, says historian – The Irish News #Popular #story #unusual #row #houses #Belfast #myth #historian #Irish #News

Published

on

A historian has revealed the folk story behind a rare feature in a row of south Belfast houses is a “myth”.

The houses at the top of University Street, just behind the Seamus Heaney Center at Queen’s University, feature a unique “double frontage”.

While their real main entrance is located on the neighboring street on Mount Charles, the rear of the houses on University Street are made up of “false fronts” – designed to resemble the front of the houses.

Learn more: World War I veteran remembered 110 years later thanks to family’s dedication

“At one point there were more Catholics than Protestants” – Belfast Presbyterian Church still holds services in Irish after almost three decades
Emma Little-Pengely did not withdraw from EA financial negotiations despite her husband's CEO role

The gaps between the “false facades” and the real rear of the houses are still visible through some windows without panes.

Historian Robert JE Simpson speaks to the Irish News about the history of University Street in Belfast. PHOTO COLM LENAGHAN
The spaces between the “false facade” and the rear of the houses are visible through the glassless windows PHOTO: COLM LENAGHAN

A unique example of such a feature in Belfast, the widely accepted story is that the false facades were built before Queen Victoria’s visit in 1849.

However, historian Robert JE Simpson told The Irish News that this version of events is “absolutely absurd”.

“The reason this was done was not to hide the location of the slums from Queen Victoria,” he said.

“She visited us in August 1849. And yes, a huge amount of work was done in the town to make improvements, to make sure it was as ‘attractive’ as possible.

“But at that time this part of Belfast was still very open green space. There were some houses that were quite prestigious and quite posh, but that area hadn’t yet been developed.”

Historian Robert JE Simpson speaks to the Irish News about the history of University Street in Belfast. PHOTO COLM LENAGHAN
The row of false facades on University Street in Belfast PHOTO: COLM LENAGHAN

Although he said Victoria did use the street to get to the university, the buildings “were not erected until ten years after” her visit, and the area was not a “slum” as is commonly said.

“A man named Mr. Hughes built them,” he said.

“Their whole appeal was that, although they were quite small for the time, as townhouses were, they had this double frontage with this wall at the back looking like a façade which would have hidden the courtyard space from the public and actually made it quite private.

“They were very nice houses as they went along. The rent back then was about £40, £50 a year. That’s about five and a half thousand dollars in today’s money, which is very good for the Queen’s area of ​​Belfast.”

Mr Simpson added of the popular explanation: “It’s a story that tour guides will tell you, and it’s absolutely absurd. »

Queen Victoria’s visit to the town in 1849 took place when its popularity in Ireland was at an all-time low following the famine.

She would later be nicknamed the “Famine Queen” for her lack of support for the Irish people during the famine years.

His £2,000 donation at the time is estimated to be around £210,000 in today’s money, but royal protocol meant no one was allowed to give more than the monarch.



The Sultan of Türkiye attempted to donate the equivalent of more than £1 million, but had to reduce his donation to a level lower than Victoria’s.

About a million people died due to famine, and another two million were forced to emigrate.



Source link

Ireland

Tatiana Schlossberg: granddaughter of JFK, died at 35 after diagnosis of terminal cancer #Tatiana #Schlossberg #granddaughter #JFK #died #diagnosis #terminal #cancer

Published

on

By

The JFK Library Foundation announced Ms. Schlossberg’s death in a statement today.

“Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts,” the statement said. The message was signed “George, Edwin and Josephine Moran, Ed, Caroline, Jack, Rose and Rory”.

Ms. Schlossberg is survived by her husband, George Moran, their three-year-old son and their one-year-old daughter.

She is also survived by her parents, Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg, her brother Jack Schlossberg and her sister Rose Schlossberg, married to Rory McAuliffe.

The environmental journalist revealed she was diagnosed with a rare type of acute myeloid leukemia, a blood cancer, in a New Yorkers essay published on November 22, the 62nd anniversary of his grandfather’s assassination.

I had swum a kilometer in the pool the day before, nine months pregnant

In the essay, Ms. Schlossberg recounted her disbelief. “I couldn’t believe they were talking about me.

“I had swum a mile in the pool the day before, nine months pregnant. I wasn’t sick. I didn’t feel sick,” she wrote.

Ms Schlossberg was diagnosed shortly after giving birth to her daughter last year, when doctors noticed her white blood cell count was high.

Today’s news in 90 seconds – December 31

“Everyone thought it was pregnancy or childbirth related. After a few hours, my doctors thought it was leukemia,” she wrote.

In her essay, Ms. Schlossberg also criticized her cousin, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.

“I watched from my hospital bed as Bobby, in the face of logic and common sense, was confirmed for the position, despite never having worked in medicine, public health or government,” she wrote.

She denounced his cuts in research funding, in particular for “mRNA vaccines, a technology which could be used against certain cancers”.

Ms. Schlossberg’s work has focused on the impacts of climate change. She has published several articles in The Washington Postincluding an investigation into the impacts of climate change on cranberry growers.

In 2019, Ms. Schlossberg also published Discreet consumption: the environmental impact you don’t know exists.



Source link
#Tatiana #Schlossberg #granddaughter #JFK #died #diagnosis #terminal #cancer

Continue Reading

Ireland

Problems with NI’s health service would become more acute, official warned in 2005 #Problems #NIs #health #service #acute #official #warned

Published

on

By

Northern Ireland’s health service faced “difficult problems” in 2005, with a senior civil servant warning that pressures “will become even more acute in the years to come”.

However, the author of a health study also heard that there was “a strong political and public attachment to the NHS model” in the region and that it had provided an “impartial community resource” throughout the Troubles.

Professor John Appleby launched an independent review of health and social care services in Northern Ireland in 2005.

There is strong political and public attachment to the NHS model in NI

Clive Gowdy

Declassified documents from the Public Record Office in Belfast show that Clive Gowdy, then permanent secretary at the Department of Health, prepared a paper for the academic in which he said the HPSS (Personal Health and Social Care) was “struggling under the combined effect of growing public demands and expectations, rising standards of clinical and social care governance and spiraling costs”.

He said: “There is strong political and public attachment to the NHS model in NI.

“HPSS is virtually the only provider of health and social services here.

“The private sector is small – with, for example, only two small private hospitals – and relatively few people can afford private health insurance.

“Figures for the use of private health insurance show that in 2002, 19% of the English population was covered by such insurance, compared to 10% of households in NI.”

A senior civil servant said there was a strong attachment to the NHS model in NI (Anthony Devlin/PA)A senior civil servant said there was a strong attachment to the NHS model in NI (Anthony Devlin/PA)
A senior civil servant said there was a strong attachment to the NHS model in NI (Anthony Devlin/PA)

He added: “The value of HPSS is also demonstrated by the fact that throughout 30 years of civil unrest, HPSS has been viewed as an impartial community resource, providing essential services fairly and equitably across community and political divides.

“The HPSS has dealt with, and continues to deal with, both injuries and illnesses directly associated with the conflict, as well as illnesses resulting from the economic stagnation, long-term unemployment and poverty to which the unrest contributed. »

It is clear that these pressures will increase further in the years to come.

Mr Gowdy said services were “facing the challenges of coping with ever-increasing pressures on our health and social care services”.

He added: “It is clear that these pressures will become even more acute in the years to come.

“This will pose real resource challenges and this issue, which concerns health systems around the world, cannot be ignored in Northern Ireland.

“We need open and honest political reflection on how these demands should be met. »

The Permanent Secretary concluded: “The reality is still that although the HPSS provides essential services to the community at all levels, it is unable to guarantee the quality of service it can offer to the public.

“It has not been possible to meet all public demands and the worst manifestations of this deficit have been the long waiting lists for inpatient and outpatient services, queues in emergency departments, the failure to provide new drug therapies to all patients who need or could benefit from them, and the deficit in community social services for vulnerable people and children. »



Source link
#Problems #NIs #health #service #acute #official #warned

Continue Reading

Ireland

The meeting discussed the use of anti-terrorism laws to combat paramilitary flags and murals #meeting #discussed #antiterrorism #laws #combat #paramilitary #flags #murals

Published

on

By

A file held at the Public Record Office in Belfast includes the minutes of a meeting which took place at Stormont House.

A meeting at Stormont discussed the use of anti-terrorism laws to combat displays of paramilitary flags and murals in 2004, according to declassified files.

The papers reveal that a senior PSNI official said “comprehensive case law” could be developed within the courts to establish a “clear line between what is acceptable and what is not”.

A file held at the Public Record Office in Belfast includes the minutes of a meeting which took place at Stormont House on March 2, 2004, attended by PSNI representatives, civil servants and representatives from the Community Relations Unit (CRU) and the Community Relations Council (CRC).

The minutes indicate that a previous meeting concluded that a “community approach to the flag issue was preferable to a police-only response.”

Senior officer Gary White told the meeting he had had a discussion with the Crown Prosecution Service regarding the use of the Terrorism Act 2000.

The minute read: “Again, the question of what is and is not acceptable behavior has become an issue, but GW (Gary White) believes that the DPP is in favor of using this provision generally and this is easiest where a flag or mural illustrates an explicit level of support for a paramilitary organization.

“Obviously there will be areas where there will be doubts about what a flag is.

“GW suggested that this issue should be left to the courts and that comprehensive case law could be developed to establish a clear line between what is acceptable and what is not.

“He also reminded the group that there is great sympathy for the idea that what was acceptable during the worst phases of the Troubles may not be acceptable now.”

The minutes indicate that the meeting recalls a test case relating to the display of paramilitary flags in Hollywood, which resulted in the conviction of four people under section 13 of the Terrorism Act.

It was subsequently learned that the CRU had commissioned research from the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s University into the issue of flags and emblems.

The CRU’s Billy Gamble said “his preference was for the community to resolve these issues on their own”, but he felt there “had to be a threat of final sanction”.

The minutes state: “The group was clearly impressed by the approaches of the CRU/CRC and expects the outcome of the policy document in June.

“It is clear, however, that there will be times when the community simply cannot stop the paramilitaries from engaging in this activity.

“In such circumstances, the PSNI is content to have the necessary powers under the Terrorism Act to deal with the situation. In short, there is no universal policy that can solve the flag problem.”

For all the latest news visit the Belfast Live homepage here And sign up for our daily newsletter here.



Source link
#meeting #discussed #antiterrorism #laws #combat #paramilitary #flags #murals

Continue Reading

Trending